December 20, 2017Our Catholic FaithComments Off on St. Leo And St. Augustine: Rejoice In The Savior’s Birth

(Editor’s Note: Below are two classic Christmas sermons from two saints: first, one from Pope St. Leo the Great, which appears on www.catholicism.org, and second, one from St. Augustine, which appears on www.catholic.org.) + + + From Pope St. Leo the Great: Our Savior, dearly Beloved, was born this day. Let us rejoice. Sadness is not becoming upon the Birth Day of Life Itself, which, now that the fear of death is ended, fills us with gladness, because of our own promised immortality. No one is excluded from sharing in this cheerfulness, for the reason of our joy is common to all men. Our Lord, the Conqueror of sin and death, since there was no one free from servitude, came…Continue Reading

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The language of men is the first thing we learn, after the taking in of that which is necessary for the nourishment of the flesh, upon issuing forth from our mother’s womb. What are at first unrecognizable sounds begin to point beyond themselves. Symbolism gradually takes over our thinking processes as we learn to assign various sounds to describe, and enable us to exist and operate among the people, places, and things around us. This column you are reading is possible because we were initiated into a common symbolic structure that, with minor variations from place to place, enables us to bridge the distance between us and to enter into a dialog that unites us…Continue Reading

December 17, 2017Our Catholic FaithComments Off on The Sacraments Instituted By Christ… Conditional Baptism And Other Forms

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 7 Years ago, I knew a young man in Brazil, my country of birth, who, after a few months of catechism lessons, expressed the desire to be baptized, and wanted me to stand at the ceremony as his godfather. I agreed to do so, of course, but there was a problem: He thought that he had been baptized as a child. Since both of his parents were Japanese immigrants and with little knowledge of Catholicism, I thought of asking the parish priest to baptize him on a conditional basis, and consulted a priest friend about it, to make sure it was OK. And it was. My friend received a conditional Baptism, and I am…Continue Reading

By DONALD FIER Two weeks ago, we established that “the vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], n. 1603). Created “male and female” (Gen. 2:17; Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6) and in the “image and likeness of God” (cf. Gen. 1:26, 27), they were enabled to “become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5; Eph. 5:31) in a complete union of self-giving love. Moreover, this “marital union of man and woman…is by its very nature ordered to the communion and good of the couple and to the generation and education of children” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n.…Continue Reading

Editor’s Note: As we prepare to celebrate another Christmas, it might be appropriate to offer the following summary of the life of the Person whose birth we honor this month. His Story Begins Jesus, whose birth is celebrated throughout the whole world every December, has had a greater impact on human history than any person who ever lived. Though He died at the age of thirty-three, the year in which we live is dated (approximately) from His birth. Though He lived in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago, some two billion people today call themselves His followers. Though He never wrote a book, tens of thousands of books have been written about His life and teachings.…Continue Reading

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Fourth Sunday Of Advent (YR B) Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 In the readings today the Church gives us the full hope and expectation of the coming of our Lord. Long promised to the people of Israel, the Messiah was longed for and eagerly awaited by those who put their faith in God. They knew the promises the Lord had made to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to Moses, and, as we hear in the first reading, to David. Unfortunately, as we so often do, we twist God’s promises to fulfill what we want them to. The people of Israel were no different. They could look at Abraham’s defeat of…Continue Reading

December 13, 2017Our Catholic FaithComments Off on New tests have confirmed the age of the Holy Sepulchre

JERUSALEM (CNA/EWTN News) — Following the recent restoration of the Holy Sepulchre, archaeologists have confirmed the construction dates of the structure surrounding what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus. Having undergone renovations in 2016, the tomb was opened for first time in centuries last October. Archeologists were able to test samples of the mortar near the cave’s southern wall and the entrance, according to National Geographic. The sediment in the samples was measured for its most recent exposure to light using a process called optically stimulated luminescence. They found that the mortar and marble slab covering the original burial bed dated back to about AD 345. This coincides with the time period that Constantine was believed to have…Continue Reading

December 11, 2017Our Catholic FaithComments Off on A Leaven In The World… Is The Pope A Protestant?

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK (Editor’s Note: See also Steve Skojec’s report on page 1 of this week’s issue, particularly the quotations from Dr. John Joy on Magisterial authority.) You know the joke; you’ve probably used it yourself. Someone asks a question and to stress that the answer is a most emphatic “yes,” you respond: “Is the Pope a Catholic?” Some folks are asking that question lately for other, less than humorous, reasons. Why? The glorification of a heretic in the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 1517 revolt against the Church and the cascade of unraveling events roiling the Church resulting from shocked reaction to chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia (AL) — for starters. There have been…Continue Reading

December 10, 2017Our Catholic FaithComments Off on The Sacraments Instituted By Christ…. The Effects Of The Sacrament Of Baptism

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 6 What does Baptism do, anyway? Isn’t it just a ceremony? No, it is not. The first, primordial effect of Baptism is to give sanctifying grace, a participation in the Life of God Himself: the indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the soul of the child or adult being baptized. It is never enough to point out that Baptism is not just a ceremony to join the local parish. No, through Baptism we are given a new birth: By our natural birth, we are children of our parents, by our spiritual or supernatural birth in Baptism, we become children of God and heirs to His Kingdom. This is effected by sanctifying grace. But that…Continue Reading

By DON FIER In beginning our consideration of the Sacrament of Marriage last week, it was immediately affirmed that “God Himself is the author of matrimony” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 48 § 1). Our Creator inaugurated this noble institution “from the beginning” (Matt. 19:4) when He formed Eve from Adam’s rib in the Garden of Eden on the sixth day of creation, having observed that “it is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18). Adam rejoiced exultantly when God brought Eve to him and exclaimed, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). Created out of love “in…Continue Reading